Dylan Goebel's Movie Reviews

After disappearing from filmmaking for nearly a decade, Gore Verbinski comes back with what might honestly be one of the best films of his entire career. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is hilarious, chaotic, smart, surprisingly heartfelt, and one of the most entertaining sci-fi comedies I’ve seen in years. It’s the kind of movie that feels completely unpredictable from scene to scene while still knowing exactly what it wants to say. The premise alone already sounds incredible: a mysterious “Man From the Future” arrives at a random diner in Los Angeles and recruits a group of frustrated, dysfunctional strangers to help stop a rogue artificial intelligence from wiping out humanity. What follows is basically an overnight descent into madness involving conspiracy theories, existential panic, absurd comedy, bursts of violence, and surprisingly sharp commentary about modern society’s relationship with technology. And somehow, the movie balances all of those elements perfectl...

Backrooms (2026) — Review by Dylan Goebel Backrooms is one of those rare internet-inspired horror films that actually understands what made its source material unsettling in the first place. Rather than relying solely on familiar creepypasta imagery, director crafts a genuinely atmospheric horror experience that feels unnervingly immersive from beginning to end. The film follows a therapist whose patient mysteriously disappears into a dimension beyond reality. Determined to save him, she ventures into the unknown and finds herself trapped in a nightmare landscape where the rules of reality no longer apply. It's a simple premise, but one that allows the film to explore fear, isolation, and the terror of the incomprehensible. What impressed me most was Parsons' direction. For a feature-film debut, he demonstrates a remarkable understanding of atmosphere and tone. The Backrooms themselves feel oppressive, endless, and genuinely threatening. Every hallway, room, and cor...

I had a pretty decent time with the 2021 Mortal Kombat . Was it dumb? Absolutely. Was it messy? Definitely. But it understood one important thing: people mainly showed up to watch iconic characters beat each other to death in gloriously over-the-top fashion, and on that level, it delivered enough dumb gory fun to work as a solid popcorn movie. Thankfully, Mortal Kombat II improves on that formula in almost every way. This sequel finally gives fans what they wanted the first time around: the actual tournament. And honestly, that alone already makes this movie far more entertaining than its predecessor. Instead of spending most of the runtime awkwardly setting things up, the film jumps right into the chaos as Earthrealm’s champions prepare to face off against the forces of Outworld and the looming threat of Shao Kahn. The biggest improvement here is easily the action. The fight choreography is significantly better this time around, with faster pacing, more creativity, an...

At long last, The Strangers trilogy finally comes to an end, and honestly, the greatest feeling this movie gave me was the comforting realization that there hopefully won’t be another one after this. After two already painfully weak entries, Chapter 3 somehow manages to be even worse — an absolutely miserable horror movie experience that takes one of the most iconic home invasion concepts in modern horror and drains every ounce of tension, fear, and entertainment out of it. The film follows Maya once again, still trapped in the endless cycle of violence caused by the masked killers. As the mythology behind the Strangers supposedly begins to unravel, Maya is pushed toward one final confrontation with them in what the movie clearly wants to present as an emotionally devastating and terrifying finale. The problem is that none of it works. One of the biggest issues is Maya herself. She was never an especially interesting protagonist in the previous two films, but here she...

There are some movies that mistake misery for passion, and unfortunately, this version of Wuthering Heights falls directly into that trap. Directed as a dark, sensual reimagining of the classic novel, the film clearly wants to be this sweeping, erotic gothic romance filled with obsession, lust, and emotional devastation. Instead, it mostly ends up being a very pretty, very slow movie about two people screaming at each other on hills for over two hours. The story follows Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, two deeply connected souls whose relationship becomes increasingly toxic and destructive as the years go on. Set against the cold and haunting Yorkshire moors, the film leans heavily into atmosphere and emotional intensity. There’s betrayal, jealousy, revenge, class conflict, and endless longing. The movie definitely understands the tragic nature of the source material, but it forgets that audiences still need a reason to emotionally invest in these people. The biggest stre...

Iron Lung is a sci-fi horror film written and directed by Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier) in his feature film debut. It tells the story of survivors of the apocalypse who send a convict to a moon that's an ocean of blood, in a submarine to explore the depths. It is known that this was a passion project for Markiplier, but does the passion show, or is this dead on arrival? In my opinion, this movie was a mixed bag. You can absolutely tell Markiplier was passionate about making this film, not only because he wrote it, directed it, and stars in the movie as the lead (and for most of the movie, he's the only on-screen character), but unfortunately, the execution is only good half the time. The positives here are that the movie thrives on atmosphere and great sound design. The atmosphere and claustrophobic setting make the horror very effective when it occurs, and the sound design is put to great use when the monster attacks in the second half of the film. Markiplier...